 Hi, everyone. I am here with Donna. I'm a mule know her already She ran for Congress in 2020 and she is back running to represent the brand-new district in Texas District 37 now Donna welcome to the show Hey Mike. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so glad to be back with the viewers of your show They're the most amazing viewers and they've shown me so much love last time. So, thank you They are truly incredible As are you your campaign last time just it exploded I think because people really saw that you you had something special that you were offering to people and you were real You were so close you got the most votes than Anyone in that district before at least was running as a progressive and it was a district that was so close to flipping But now it's a little bit of a different game Because this is a brand-new district the lines were just redrawn So talk about the dynamic this time because it's all it's a whole different race now Yeah, so, you know, the population of Texas grew in a big way in the last decade In fact, Texas I believe is the only state that got two new US congressional districts in addition to the 36 that they already have and Austin, Texas got one of the one of those brand-new districts So I have been redistricted into a completely brand-new district Which race is not just critical to winning for Democrats. This is a Democrat You know Opportunity to pick up a seat in Texas of all places not only that But the road through flipping Texas or what I like to say taking back Texas runs right through this district So this is this is a really really exciting opportunity and guess what? I mean whoever wins this district on March 1st an early voting for us starts on February 14th If you can believe it or not like we're right at Christmas. Wow They go straight to Congress because this is a Democratic leaning district And you have already shown that you could win a Democratic primary because that's exactly what you did in 2020 So talk about what happened last time and I know that my viewers are familiar with the campaign But give us a little bit of a refresher and just how close you were Yeah, so, you know, Texas's 31st district was Northwest Austin suburbs All of Williamson County and almost all of Bell County and I ran in that district We beat out 11 under candidates, you know, there was 12 of six candidates on the ballot We made it to a runoff and then we won that, you know Primary runoff with a double-digit lead and we definitely were not the favorite to win and believe it or not Mike You know, the viewers on your show played a huge part in our race They got out the word all over the country We had so much love so much support and you will not believe the number of letters Handwritten letters that we got from viewers of your show saying Donna I saw you on the humanist report and I loved what you're doing. So You know in in 2020 We outperformed, uh, you know, all the races in Texas Let me tell you how the data speaks for itself, right in the primary We had the highest voter turnout in the history of the district highest democratic voter turnout in the primary runoff We had the highest voter turnout in the history of the district runoff to runoff 200 Plus percent improvement in voter turnout and get this not only did we have the highest voter turnout In the history of the entire district, but Williamson County All of which was in my district was number one Number one in voter turnout among the top 25 most populated counties in Texas Now a lot of people are like, you know, Texas is a big state and it has over 200 counties But most of our counties are very very rural with very tiny populations So when you're number one among the top 25 most populated counties, you're number one in Texas And why is turnout so important? Because even though in 2020 Texas had really amazing voter turnout We're still in the, you know, bottom, you know, 10 Of all the 50 states in terms of voter turnout our voter turnout needs to improve in in order for us to take back Texas And so what does that mean? Texas is so gerrymandered That every single race, whether it's at the state level, you know, us rep Or us congressional or even a state senate, right? Every single one of those races are completely predetermined to go one way or the other So they've been cut in a way where basically g.o.p You know people who have one will keep winning and if there is a democrat in there, they'll keep winning So how do you take back Texas? The only way to do it is by flipping statewide seats Now guess what statewide? There's no gerrymandering So if you can get out the vote if you can get the highest voter turnout in the bluest parts of Texas You can flip the state and I can give you specific examples, by the way, how we can do that For example, the governor's race Is on the ballot in 2022 In 2018 Beto Aurora ran for Senator against head Cruz and he was only short 215,000 votes. Now that sounds like a lot But my count by my calculations Just in the Austin area Travis and Williamson county. There are over a hundred thousand Democrat democratic voters that are registered to vote that did not come out in 2018 And we got to get them out. So if we can even get a you know, half of those people out in 2022 pair that with San Antonio Bayhawk County pair that with You know, Dallas Fort Worth the bluest areas there in Houston and El Paso. Guess what we close that gap And all of a sudden now we have a lot more say in the Texas legislator So that's that's why it is so critical and that's why I believe that our campaign Is in the best position to get out the vote because after all we did come in number one Yeah, yeah, and you know out of all of the districts in Texas I believe that Texas and correct me if I'm wrong They doubled the amount of safe seats for republicans So I'm thinking that in these really safe blue districts the new ones There's going to be a lot of people who want to jump in But one thing that I love is that you've already proven that you can beat out a lot of contenders You've proven that you could drive up turnout And so this is something that like I'm looking at this and I feel like this is such a good opportunity I mean, this is one of those instances where a candidate comes back and in the second round They nail it. I mean Cory Bush came back one Ro Khanna came back and won So for me, I've always had this belief that if you're running for congress It's it's hard to win that first time But if you are going to run and you want to win usually the second or third time is when you do it But you almost won the first time So the second time you've already crunched the numbers you're an engineer So you're thinking specifically about what you need to do where the weaknesses are at where to drive up turnout And it just it looks like such a good Opportunity and I feel like more progressives should be following this race because this is this could be huge for us So, okay, I want to jump ahead a little bit Let's assume that you are elected in 2022. You're sworn in in 2023 But then Overall democrats lose the house So you're in this position where you're in congress. You're in a position to really make change But um, you know, the party that you're caucusing with is not in power What do you do from there in that mean time when you know, there's gonna be nothing done essentially What do you think is the best move for you as a lawmaker? Where do you direct the momentum towards because there's a lot of things that need to be addressed? I mean climate change in medicarell. You you already know Where where would you kind of focus your attention? That's a great question mic In such a pertinent one too But to answer that question I want to share a letter that I got from a lady in texas and you'll know Why why this letter is going to be so important to answering your question So I got this letter earlier this year and this is this is a you know, beautifully handwritten letter I don't know if you can see this I can that's awesome. Yeah Yeah, so I'll read it to you because it's a tiny letter and and your readers will be able to appreciate this She says donna I lost my job because of my age I'm 78 years old So I can't give much Please accept this small donation She sent this with a check Oh, wow, she says Not sure I will be able to find a job at my age If I do I will be I will be able to continue to support your campaign. Good luck Jane People ask me, you know, why I'm running and when you get letters like this What can you do but not keep fighting? Fighting for Texans fighting for the people that depend on you And so let's say the democratic party loses and we don't have the majority We still have a lot of work to do We need to talk about the people in our country Specifically Texans, you know, we have the most number of people with no health care And even if we don't have majority it is our responsibility. It is our obligation To talk to people even if it's across the aisle even if they're extreme on the other side and explain to them What is happening to people in our country? That people don't have the ability to go see a doctor when they get sick that At at an age where she should be relaxing. She's she should be retired a job. That's right Can we give up? Isn't it important isn't it our job to reach across the aisle and make sure that they come on board today? The gop has no solution for health care We must educate voters We must take our message to voters Whether we are in power or not and we have to keep working and this is why I will never give up working for Texans and americans across this country Because they are depending on us. They're looking for somebody to go in and explain What is happening in this country? And it's not like people in congress don't necessarily know this but it is important to hear from people It's important for us to keep going. So when you ask, what would I do in congress? I would continue to advocate. I would continue to educate among the democratic caucus We know in the democratic caucus that we have many people right now That don't support single-payer health care They keep asking the question. How are you going to pay for it when we know That we're Overpaying for health care in this country. We're paying over four trillion dollars for health care Leaving out millions from health care not health insurance And it's all great to be able to improve The amount of money that you give to aca to help you bring down your premiums But health insurance and you know this mike Is not health care health insurance is not health care and we have to take this to every single member of congress Make sure that they really understand that The people in this country are suffering when they don't need to That we Don't need to find a way to pay for health care because we are already paying for it So that will be my job in congress to reach out to every single person in the democratic caucus But also to reach out to anybody on the other side that wants to solve problems and take the message to both Democratic voters as well as voters that vote for the g.o.p. Republican voters And I think that is our obligation and we must do it Yeah, honestly, why I think that you really Resonated with a lot of people is because there's this sense that politicians and anyone who wants to get involved in politics They're either career minded and you know, um opportunistic and they don't even bother trying to speak with them I mean, for example, my representative is a democrat And I don't even bother sending her a letter because I know that if I sent her a letter Even if I put a check in it, she'd just take the check and then throw away the letter But people like you actually Read the letters that actually has a real emotional impact on you And it just the difference is is so clear You're you're a human being these other folks are robots And I think that that really resonates with people because they're they're sick of the robots So, um, with that in mind, um, assuming you're in congress assuming you We're in a position where democrats actually did have the majority and you could actually Get some things done I want to propose a hypothetical situation To you that i've been asking a lot of candidates running for congress and I think it's really interesting They've answered a variety of ways and each time it's very fascinating to me So, uh, I'm curious. So let's say that you have a piece of legislation that you, uh Introduced and you're trying to get a lot of sponsors. You're trying to get a committee hearings for it Um, but one individual who's a holdout, but a potential co-sponsor is someone who is being primary It's a corporate democrat, but yet there's somebody who is very left-wing who would certainly sponsor that legislation But is unlikely to win that seat in this situation. What do you do? Do you? Endorse that person to get them to co-sign. Do you cock this sort of a deal? Or do you kind of disregard their their, um Co-signing of your legislation and endorse the incumbent or not the income I'm sorry endorse the primary over the incumbent knowing that your endorsement as a member of congress Could give them a giant boost and make the difference in that situation What do you do because it's a moral dilemma in the sense that you know, you need co-sponsors If you want to get things done, you need to build pro you know You need to build support for these bills But at the same time if we don't have more people in congress that are like minded uncorrupted Then you're also not going to go anywhere. So in this situation, how would you individually? Um Navigate this because it's tough. I feel like you know, this is part of the reason why aoc didn't endorse cori bush in 2020 Over lacy clay because he co-sponsored the green new deal. So maybe she thought or maybe he Did that to get her to remain silent? I don't know, you know, we don't know what goes on behind the scenes But how would you handle the situation? So this is a really great question And I want your viewers to understand what sponsorship actually means or endorsements actually really mean There's there's two kinds of ways that endorsements can help one is where you have a major well-known name And that actually helps you Get votes now. I want I want you guys to understand this To get votes endorse the actual impact of endorsement on votes is very minimal Because that endorsement Unless every single person in that district that you're running hears and knows about this that endorsement And sometimes we assume just because we have it on our website or our social media Everyone's heard of it. That is not true because when we ran in 2020 we hit over 50 000 homes in Williamson county And why did we do that? Because we we believe that we needed to get our message to where the voters are We didn't depend on media because we knew that we wouldn't get any media coverage, right? So unless you take your endorsement and then the second step of this is that the person reading about that endorsement has to either Like the person that's endorsing you believe in them or it has to have a positive effect, right? and when it comes to politicians it's always a You know a dilemma you do not know which politician has a positive effect and which one has a negative effect Just because somebody is a democrat doesn't mean that they will necessarily have a positive effect when it comes to votes Okay, that is votes. So next I want to talk to you about money Money is a really important part, especially if you're a grassroots candidate trying to raise money and you know last time when I ran I was a first time candidate. I had no exposure and Your viewers by the way Hundreds of your viewers gave me tiny tiny small contributions and you have no idea what that did for our campaign You literally breathed life into our campaign and help and helped us Get over that primary and get into our runoff and then win So you were part of this success that we have been able to show so far and we could not have done it without you so when a congressperson endorses the endorsement itself will not raise you any money Unless they go to bat for you and help you raise money. So a lot of times, you know, we're on social media We're plugged into all of this, uh, you know a political news and we get excited We see an endorsement and we say, okay, this is great You know, she got an endorsement from somebody that we respect and we want, you know Them to go in and caucus with but that doesn't necessarily mean that it Results in good fundraising numbers or votes the only time that an endorsement really matters number one Is if the person who endorses you has great name recognition And we'll go to bat and raise money for you So there are very few congress members that will actually do that for you where they will send an email and raise money for you And if they raise money for you, absolutely that will make an impact So if I was in congress and I had the ability to raise millions and millions of dollars And I knew that there was a chance that this person if I helped them financially That they would win this race, right? I could actually have a real impact in their race Then in order to pass things like single-payer health care, which is one of my biggest focuses, right? In actually making it happen not just talking about it But how do we go inside congress organize build support for it, right? If if I believe that I could actually impact that path to success Then absolutely we should support them in ways that is meaningful Not just putting our name on it, but actual meaningful endorsement. That's number one But we have to try everything for example If we have an incumbent and that incumbent is not coming on board to what needs to be done for the american people We absolutely have to do everything to encourage that person to show them the data to bring them on board And if we're unable to do that, yes, they need to step away and we need to bring in people that are going to You know act in the way the data is directing them and we all know this You know this mic and I've said this over and over again while on your show and outside and so have many other candidates There is absolutely no reason for us not to have single-payer health care in this country That is my core issue. There is no reason why education should cost anything I know people like to talk about free college But the fact is education should be cost free It should be debt free not just because we can do it because we can do it because But guess what calculus and mathematics and physics and majority of engineering hasn't changed in the entire century There's no reason why we are paying Tens of thousands of dollars and loading up Our kids in this country young people with mortgage-sized loans so they can go get an education It's ridiculous and if you have congress members that don't see that Then they have no business being in congress because they are actively harming the progress of our country And I love your answer because you You know more than somebody who doesn't like who just kind of like runs for congress And they're kind of bright-eyed and they get there and then their soul is crushed Like I feel like you already know to anticipate your soul be crushed You're going to have a lot of manipulative people in congress and you're really playing the long game, right? You're not thinking about okay in this two-year term. How many co-sponsors can I get on this piece of legislation? You're thinking how can I actually get this legislation passed and not just have something to write to my Constituents about hey, we got 68 co-sponsors not on my legislation when okay That's going to reset in a couple of years and you're going to have to get that again And like you're thinking about the long game and this is why I think that so many of my viewers really value So, okay every single person is watching this they already are convinced 100 and so now the only question is Uh, how do we make this official this time? What do you need specifically from us because this is a new district? Um, do you need volunteers? Do you need money? Help us help you? How do we make you go across that finish line this time? Like for sure So this race is completely winnable. Whoever wins this primary will go to congress. There's no doubt about that number one I've already made my case. We had the highest voter turnout in the history of the district, right? And we need to repeat that not just to win this race But also to help take back texas and help other democrats win statewide, which is important in texas For a couple of reasons number one. We our voter rights have been further restricted. We need to take those back We reproductive rights have been completely banned for texas That is a huge challenge for us. And of course we've been gerrymandered to the max, which means Democrats in texas have zero power. So this is a really this is not just about winning a race This is this is about, you know, really bringing back some normalcy to texas. We are under siege here right now So how can we help? if you are in austin texas I ask you to join our campaign and let 10 of your friends know about me running if they haven't heard Get them out to vote early voting starts february 14. That is the most important thing of anything Nothing's wins races like votes. Okay votes win races So that's number one number two if you can help And are able to contribute anything at all We would really really appreciate it every single dollar counts and might you know me We in our campaign stretch the dollar more than I think any other campaign We have really really optimized every single dollar. It costs about a dollar for us to reach um a voter So even if you can donate a dollar and if you're you know, really really Wealthy, please feel free to donate more. We do need help We're trying to get on the ballot our deadline to get on the ballot is december 13th If you can contribute, please do at vote for donna.com So that's one one thing But the most important thing out of all this is even if you're across this country and you have a friend A relative a cousin anybody in austin Please call them text them message them facebook them Let them know that we're running and that we can get this job done not just for this race But also for all of texas and my promise to you mic and your viewers Is that I will be the person in congress that will advocate on on every single day To make legislation around single-payer health care happen That is one of my focus biggest focuses and the second thing is death free education cost free education That doesn't matter if you want to go to trade school college I think one of the biggest mistakes for democrats is not to pass tuition free community college in billback better That is one of my favorite things in there And those are my two big things that I will be advocating for Strategizing convincing To get passed So that's my goal in congress and I hope that we can make it happen for you and Thank you so much. If you supported our campaign last cycle You have no idea what you did for our campaign you did you moved our campaign To become number one in texas think about that's insane. That's insane, right? That's great Hey, it goes to show you that if you have a good message And you know what you're doing you can you can go the distance so donna Of course, I mean we'll be in touch I'll be watching your campaign very very closely and hopefully We'll be able to bring you on apt you win the primary because then it's just smooth sailing Yeah, hope so hope so. Well, thank you so much. You'll be racing to the finish line as that car drove by Yes, thank you so much mike. I really really appreciate it and lots of love to your viewers Yes, you as well. Thank you so much. Donna